- The sun is actually a star.
- The sun is around 4.6 billion years old.
- The sun is a giant ball of burning gasses. Made up of more than 90% of the element hydrogen and 7% of the element helium. It also contains very small amounts of oxygen, carbon, iron and neon.
- The sun is found in the center of our Solar System.
- Earth is one of the 8 planets that orbit the sun. The planets in order from the sun are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto is no longer considered a planet.
- The sun is extremely hot. Its surface is about 10,000 degrees F, 5,500 C. At its core the sun can reach 28 million degrees F.
- The sun is made up of 6 layers:
- Core- Center the sun. Where the sun’s energy is made. The core is also the hottest part of the sun.
- Radiative Zone – The layer around the core.
- Connective Zone- The later around the Radiative Zone.
- Photosphere- The surface of the sun.
- Chromosphere- The layer above the sun’s surface.
- Corona- The most outer layer.
- The sun is very big. It is about 865,000 in diameter (around).
- The sun is so big that 1 million Earths can fit inside it!
- The sun is 92 million miles away from the Earth.
- The sun gives light and heat to Earth.
- Without the sun there would not be life on Earth.
- It takes about 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach the Earth.
- It takes Earth 365 days or 1 year to orbit the sun.
- When the moon comes between the sun and the Earth is it called a solar eclipse.
- Many ancient civilizations worshiped the sun. Here is a list of names of some Sun Gods and Goddesses.
- Azteec – Huitzilopochtli- God
- Egypt – Re or Ra- God
- Greek – Helios – God
- Inca – Inti – God
- Japan- Amaterasu –Goddess
- Mesopotamia – Utu or Shamash -God
- Norse – Sol Sunna -Goddess
o Roman – Sol -God
Try This! To find out how much you would weigh on the sun multiply your current weight by the number 27. Example if you weighed 110 pounds on Earth you would weigh 2,970 on the sun!